


Shipwreck

by bakedgarnet



Category: Incredibles (Pixar Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 18:43:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17431442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bakedgarnet/pseuds/bakedgarnet
Summary: Evelyn had been distant lately. Things were different— like the eerie presence of anticipated touch. It made the tiny hairs at the nape of Helen’s neck rise like something heavy was on its way, and she had been around danger for far too long to take that sensation lightly.





	Shipwreck

Evelyn had been distant lately. Not that they ever spent more than a weekend together at a time, anyway, but even then things were different— like the eerie presence of anticipated touch. It made the tiny hairs at the nape of Helen’s neck rise like something heavy was on its way, and she had been around danger for far too long to take that sensation lightly. 

 

She didn’t want to get Bob involved just yet. He had already extended far more forgiveness and allowance for more things surrounding her and Evelyn’s relationship than she would have ever expected of him. He had taken note of the tumultuous feelings that had arisen during their time working together on the project to bring Supers back. Helen told him everything after Evelyn had been incarcerated. That included their flirtatious banter and late night talks over a bottle of wine between the two of them, the invitations up to her hotel room for a nightcap, the surprise of heartbreak upon learning that Evelyn’s intentions had been something very different than what she was led to believe. 

 

Helen had laid herself bare in front of her husband for one of the few times it was called for, exposing her own desire for the Deavor sister with guilt weighing down every syllable as she did so. It had taken Bob several days to come to terms with what had been happening while he was home with their children, but ultimately he had decided that Helen’s happiness was what mattered the most. He trusted her to explore things with Evelyn, if she truly thought it was safe, and still maintain their vows. 

 

She may have teared up a bit at his supportiveness of her emerging sexuality, but she had cried over far too much leading up to that night to have any tears left. Evelyn left a hole in her heart the size of a dying star, and looking up the mountain they would both have to climb to reach trust again made her more exhausted than inspired. Yet, for the entire six months that Evelyn had spent in an unreasonably lofty prison, Helen visited every Saturday morning. 

 

Evelyn had seen her without the mask before, only in the private safety of her hotel room, and had fallen into reverent shock. Helen would never forget the way that Evelyn looked at her that night, her fingers tracing the skin from her temple to the point of her chin like she was too fragile to exist alone. They had never gone further than touches that lingered for too long, especially when Helen’s guilt for her feelings scratched up her insides until they were raw and bleeding. 

 

Later, when she would go by the prison for visits in uniform, mask and all, Evelyn would joke that she felt special being visited by a celebrity on a weekly basis. Helen had not been a very easy audience for her humor at the moment, but sure enough that came in its own time. Evelyn had a habit of buoying herself on dry humor when she was uncomfortable. It was something that Helen had noticed, but never truly understood until she was on the receiving end of something she had thought to be endearing before.

 

There had been nothing more frustrating than trying to have an honest conversation, expose her heart to a woman she hated herself for caring so deeply about in a room full of wealthy convicts, and being met with a wall so high it stretched for miles. 

 

Eventually, though, Evelyn had softened a bit. Helen would like to think that she had done a good job at chipping away at her defenses until she was just as vulnerable as her, but she couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t something Evelyn hadn’t been working on entirely on her own.

 

She had begun looking more genuinely excited to see Helen every Saturday morning, and eventually their tense silences and passive aggressive quips had turned into something resembling companionship again. 

 

But now, today, Evelyn was being just as distant as she had been before, and Helen had no idea what to do with that fact. Confronting her was never a good option. Evelyn’s ego was far too large for her to think herself low enough to justify or explain half of the things she did. 

 

Even Bob was starting to notice the toll it was taking on Helen’s emotions, and the last thing that she needed was for him to worry.

 

So Evelyn started staying at work later and later, holed up in her lab when she would normally be spending time with her tongue somewhere upon Helen’s body, so what? She was allowed to have projects, to have hobbies that she invested herself in— without explanation. She had been moody lately, but Helen could attribute it to the weather. It had been a gloomy few days, and there was little to be done about that. She would give her time, is what she had been telling herself. 

 

Except, it was nearing a month, and Helen was fed up.

 

Finally ready for the confrontation she had been avoiding all this time, she called Evelyn with every intention of demanding they have a talk that night. It was Saturday afternoon, and Helen was in her usual spot in Evelyn’s ostentatious living space— her bedroom. Alone. The phone atop her nightstand rang seven times before going to voicemail, Helen twisting the spiraling cord around her index finger anxiously with each one. The next call went to Evelyn’s receptionist, hoping that maybe that petite southern girl could put her through.

 

“ _ Good afternoon, thank you for callin' DevTech. My name is Erin, how may I help you today? _ ”

 

“This is Elastigirl, can you put me through to Evelyn Deavor? It’s an emergency.” She felt bad lying about the nature of her call, but truthfully it was starting to reach emergency proportions.

 

“ _ Right away!”  _ The girl hastily put her through, and the phone only rang twice before Evelyn answered angrily.

 

“ _ Whoever this is, I specifically said I didn’t want to take any calls—“ _

 

“Evelyn, it’s me,” Helen cut through her rant quickly, a frown causing an ache between her temples. She heard her curse on the other line, distant as if the receiver was away from her mouth, followed by something falling.

 

A heavy sigh crackled through Helen’s ear, and then Evelyn’s voice was back.

 

“ _ Hey,”  _ she drawled distractedly, “ _ Helen, this is a really bad time— _ “

 

“All the time that I’ve tried to spend with you has been a ‘bad time,’ Evelyn! Damn it, will you listen to me, please?” She felt her body flush with the sudden rush of anger that had come over her, and took a deep inhale to steady herself. 

 

The knowledge that she sounded more upset than angry became clear when Evelyn responded to the weighted silence with, “ _ I’m sorry, I really am, but there’s a lot going on right now that I have to deal with— here at work, I mean.” _

 

The sound of things being shuffled around, metallic clangs and all came through to Helen’s burning ear, and she bit back the way she wanted to lash out. Instead, a feeling of resignation washed over her that left a pit in her stomach. She pursed her lips together firmly, laying down her weapons in a fight that she’d never wanted to have in the first place, and sighed through her nose.

 

“Alright, Evelyn. I’ll see you later, I guess.”

 

She tried to picture Evelyn’s face falling in response when she hung the phone back into the cradle. It helped her a bit to imagine that maybe Evelyn was feeling at least an ounce of remorse for going cold on her so suddenly. She dug her toes into the gray wooden floors of the bedroom and released the spiral cord from around her index finger like she was letting go of Evelyn’s hand.

 

Feeling cold, she got back beneath the covers and turned onto her side, pushing her knees up until they molded against her chest.

 

Bob wouldn’t be expecting her back home so soon— this had been a day reserved for Evelyn since she was released from prison. Going back now would only raise questions, and she was so tired of Evelyn lying to her that she couldn’t bear to lie to her husband, too. 

 

Closing her eyes against the sadness that was creeping up her skin with sharp fingers searching for a way in, she couldn’t help the way that her mind turned back to the woman in question. There was nothing spectacular going on at DevTech that she knew of, and she saw Winston enough that he would’ve been the first to spill the news. The man was too proud of his marketing to keep things a secret for long, especially from her and her family. They had grown close after everything that happened last year, and Helen knew for a fact that if there was any big project that would have monopolized all of Evelyn’s time, she would know about it.

 

The doubt planted itself like a seed beneath her tongue, making every single thought turn sour. This was how her mind spiraled.

 

There could be someone else, she thought fleetingly, and then scoffed to herself. Evelyn had no qualms about hiding her attractions to other people. The two of them had made it clear in the beginning of their… unique relationship that neither of them were bound to each other in any official capacity. They spent the time together because they wanted to, but Helen was still happily married and Evelyn was free to do whatever she pleased with whomever else. That was to say, if there was someone else, Evelyn wouldn’t have been hiding it.

 

She mentally scratched that off of the list, scrunching the duvet tighter around herself as she jumped to the next thing.

 

She wasn’t proud of what it happened to be.

 

Helen thought about when the police had raided Evelyn’s actual lab after she had been detained and found the true lair of the Screenslaver, not the bogus one she had inspected where she caught the pizza delivery guy. How much time had Evelyn spent there when they all thought she was doing something else, scheming and building and monitoring every single thing? It made Helen sick to consider, but what if she was planning something sinister again in the name of whatever righteous thing she came up with next?

 

Evelyn thought too highly of herself to consider that the things she did were classified as such— but it was a possibility that Helen couldn’t shake. It gnawed at her brain until it hurt, and she couldn’t escape it if she tried. The knowledge that she didn’t trust Evelyn after all this time rebuilding their relationship rose upon her slowly, like a steadily boiling pot of water. She wanted to convince herself that she was jumping to conclusions, delving into dramatics, but her theory wasn’t out of the realm of possibility; they had been down this road before. 

 

With a racing heart and a churning stomach, Helen hugged her knees even tighter to her chest and counted her breaths until she lulled her mind to sleep.

* * *

When Evelyn returned home, Helen was unsure of what time it was. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep with the lights on, but she had, and the blinds were closed so that she couldn’t see the time of day outside. She didn’t remember falling asleep, only trying to calm herself down before she reached the inescapable part of the spiral her mind had gone into. She heard Evelyn’s keys jingling until they were placed by the front door, and then listened for every clack of her heels against the wooden flooring with bated breath. When Evelyn finally entered her bedroom, the footsteps halted for a moment too long. Helen turned onto her back so that she could make eye contact with her lover, and pale blue eyes stared back at her with enough secrets to coat every inch of every wall built around her.

 

At least it was easy to think so when she had spent so much of the day ruminating on how their trust was still a wooden-planked bridge, rickety and dangerous and missing too much of the foundation.

 

The part of Helen that cared for Evelyn all the way down to her bones tried to say that she was being irrational. The part of her that still had all the same instincts of danger from what was now sixteen years go was much louder, though. It said that she was staring into the eyes of an enemy, and looking at her that way broke Helen’s heart in a way she wasn’t sure it was able to do without belonging to Evelyn in the first place. 

 

“How was work?” Helen asked finally, tearing into the thick silence with all of her teeth. Evelyn leaned one arm up on the doorway as she used the other to pull her heels off one by one. When they were hooked on two separate fingers, she padded into the room with bare feet. 

 

“Eh, it was work. A lot of meetings, mostly. I need to have everything worked out and developed by mid-june if we want them on the shelves by Christmas,” she groaned under her breath as she reached behind herself to unzip her intricate dress-shirt, “Winston doesn’t know what he wants. He’s trying out a bunch of ideas, which means I have to make them, and it’s nice finally being asked back and all, but…” she trailed off with a huff. Her shirt drooped around her waist, and she tugged it up over her head without a second look at Helen. She went to her pants next, undoing the front buckle and slipping them down her legs smoothly, before finally discarding her bra and letting the strap fall from her fingers and onto the floor. Once in only her underwear, she finally allowed her body to relax, shoulders slumping downward and spine bending toward her back.

 

Helen stared at the spatter of freckles on her shoulders and felt her throat get tight with a sudden wave of emotion. 

 

“How was your day? I know I haven’t been around, but I hope you made yourself at home,” Evelyn said. She moved around the room slowly, stepping from her pile of clothes and wandering over to her dresser. She slipped her earrings off one by one and placed them in her jewelry box before turning around and leaning on the furniture in order to face her.

 

Generally, Helen would allow her gaze to caress every exposed inch of flesh. She would drag her vision across the sharp protrusion of her collarbones, the severe angle of her jaw, the gentle dip of her navel and the way that the black material of her underwear stood out against her skin so starkly.

 

Now, though, she couldn’t look away from the lake-water blue of her eyes, or stop wondering if they were lying to her.

 

“What were you working on?” Helen asked instead of answering the question. Evelyn shot her a strange look, brows dipping over her eyes as she looked at her sideways, turning to remove her watch and place it atop her dresser as well.

 

“You know I can’t tell you that, I’d love to, but Win would kill me.”

 

“Since when has Winston ever had a problem sharing company secrets?” Helen shot back, meeting Evelyn’s now defensive look with her own defiant one.

 

“Um, since this was a really big partner we’re working with,” she responded immediately, “and since neither of us would like to breach the non-disclosure agreement we signed. What’s going on with you?”

 

“What’s going on with me? What’s going on with  _ you _ ? You’ve been distant lately, staying at work late, dodging my calls, acting strange—“

 

“ _ You’re _ acting strange! Do you hear yourself right now? You sound paranoid, and frankly, I don’t think I appreciate being accused of…” she paused to spin her hands in the air around her, grasping for the right word and coming up empty, “what are you accusing me of, anyway?”

 

Helen kept her mouth shut, suddenly feeling guilty for thinking what she did, but still not entirely convinced she had been wrong. She looked away from Evelyn’s tired eyes and pointedly stared at the duvet.

 

After a long moment of silence, Evelyn scoffed to herself before saying, “What, do you think I’m spending all this time at the lab reviving the Screenslaver?” She laughed genuinely, tilting her head down for a chuckle that shook her shoulders right outside of Helen’s peripherals. 

 

When Helen still failed to say anything, Evelyn stopped laughing.

 

“You’re kidding me, right?” She asked, no more mirth in her tone, “Please tell me that is a really shitty joke, Helen.”

 

The use of Helen’s full name over the shortened version dragged her eyes back up to her lover, and seeing the hurt in her eyes turned them from lakewater blue to the ocean before it swallows a ship whole. She was full of anger, but at the center of it all was untamable pain.

 

“Well, what was I supposed to think when you’ve been acting just like you did a year ago? At least then you still spent time with me and  _ pretended _ that I wasn’t a nuisance,” she paused with a wounded flare of her nostrils, “even if it was only because you’d been manipulating me from the beginning.”

 

Evelyn shoved her hands into her short hair, squeezing at her scalp and scrunching her eyes closed in frustration, “For Christ’s sake, we did this already! I can’t keep apologizing for something you’ve already said you've forgiven me for, Helen, it’s not fair.” She walked over to the bed until she could crawl on top of it on her hands and knees. When she stopped in front of Helen’s form, still halfway beneath the covers, with her chest bare and her eyes sad, she was defeated. She sat back on her heels, shameless in her partial nudity, and stared deep into Helen’s eyes.

 

“Do you really think I’d do that to us again?”

 

Helen looked away, unable to stand the thunderstorm stirring up the water behind Evelyn’s eyes.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

She saw Evelyn look away out of the corners of her eyes, and knew that she had just carved a wound into their relationship that would scar nastily. 

 

“You still don’t trust me, after all this time,” Evelyn murmured quiet enough that Helen was sure it wasn’t meant for her to hear even in their close proximity. With a little, mirthless chuckle to herself, Evelyn cleared her throat and said, “Fine.”

 

She stood up from the bed and wandered back over to her dresser as if in a daze, taking her time pulling a matching sleepwear set from one of her drawers. She stepped into the pants silently, and was halfway through buttoning up the short-sleeved shirt that went with it when she looked up at Helen again.

 

“I think you should leave.”

 

Helen felt a pang in her chest, but it was pushing up equally against the same feeling that said she had every reason to be suspicious in the first place. The two parts of her, the part that had been burned by Evelyn before and the part that cared about her so much she could barely breathe, were evenly matched. 

 

“I think you’re right,” Helen said quietly, blinking several times against the sting behind her eyes and rising from the bed to search for her belongings.

 

“And Helen?” Evelyn called over her shoulder as she removed her makeup at the vanity beside the dresser. She didn’t face her fully, and Helen looked into the mirror to try and guess her expression. She got nothing.

 

“Yes?” The hairs on the back of her neck rose again, sensing the looming thing that had been on its way all this time. It was not the return of anything sinister by Evelyn’s hand after all; it was the impending shipwreck of what existed between the two of them.

 

“Don’t come back.”

**Author's Note:**

> So much thanks to the Tumblr anon who sent this deliciously angsty prompt! I really enjoyed writing this one shot. Thanks to all of you for reading!
> 
> Find me on Tumblr/Twitter/Support me on ko-fi: bakedgarnet
> 
> Much love!


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